Off the blog break and some catching up!

Ok, so we took a break last semester from blogging. I was trying to figure out how in the world I could get school done and keep a young toddler out of everyone's hair. I finally figured it out....I can only do school when he naps! At least that is when I can give presentations and give undivided attention. So far it is going good. Here is a little of what we accomplished last semester:

Tes is slowly dipping into reading. Here I think she is just looking at the pictures but she'll come to me and ask what a particular word says here and there, so she must be trying.

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At the start of the year I was having either Cat or MJ sit with Swiper and help him do his own "work". He has a small shelf with some trays on it and a basket of books. Cat read to him on several occasions. 

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I can't remember exactly what MJ was doing here but he's been interested in WWI and WWII recently. I believe he was looking up some country in Europe, then he asked if he could work with the puzzle maps. This is a primary work, but I allow it from time to time depending on how desperate I am for them to just work so I can deal with Swiper!

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In these next several pictures Tes was working on the graded figures. They are just plastic cutouts of squares, triangles and circles in different colors and sizes. 

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Tes building the trinomial cube inside the box.

Then she built it outside the box!

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Cat was doing some great practical work sharpening all the pencils for everyone. This stuff is relaxing to me, I wonder if she feels the same.

Look at those sharp tips!

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Tes working on the Formation of Numbers using the golden beads. This work teaches the child the pattern of building numbers and place value. It goes up to 1,999 with the beads and cards. Here I was giving her a number orally and having her build it with the cards as well as the beads. 

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Below Cat and MJ worked on multiples. MJ did a few chains on his own but Cat wanted nothing else to do with them. Each chain has sectioned off sets of beads from 1 to 10. For instance the 5-chain has 5 sets of 5 beads, amounting to 25 beads altogether (the short one anyway is 5^2, there is also a long chain that is 5^3) . They label each set to see the multiples of that particular chain. Below they are working with the short 9-chain and 10-chain. I believe this particular presentation was for common multiples, hence two chains and not just one.

After this chain work with multiples comes work on paper, where the kids have to circle the multiples of a particular number on a 10x10 grid of numbers. They see the patterns that multiples make across the grid. MJ and Cat both started this but Cat never went any further. MJ finished a grid for each digit from 1-10 including a sheet with *multiple* multiples! This was as far as he got with this work last semester.

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Below Tes is working on the Teen Beads and Boards. The presentations starts with just the beads and then just the board, then combining the two. This work helps the child to learn the names of the teen numbers.

Here she is building the numbers using the cards. Below she is adding in the beads to the corresponding cards.

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Below is the Ten Beads and Boards work. This helps the child learn the names of the tens as well as the linear process of counting.

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Cat reading to Swiper again. He is pointing to the animal that she names for him to find.

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Cat and MJ were given an overdue presentation of Congruency, Similarity and Equivalence using these blue triangles. We had all the other Constructive Triangle Boxes except this one. I finally ordered it because I needed some other items as well and so decided to just go back and see if they remembered the concepts. They actually didn't do too shabby.

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Tes above and below building larger numbers using the beads and wooden material. This material is also used for operations. It is basically wooden hundred squares and thousand cubes that make it easier to work with as well as easier on the wallet :). Beads are expensive by the thousands.

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Tes working with the Decanomial Square. She was trying to get it just perfect. And below is the final product. She's so proud (and so am I).

We continued to work with the Decanomial Square by removing pieces from the sides/bottom and seeing how they all fit back together. It was interesting but I did'n't get any other pictures of it. There is more work to do with this but she hasn't chosen it and I keep forgetting to remind her.

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Binomial Cube blindfolded! She is actually very good at building the Trinomial Cube too but she is not confident enough yet to do it with a blindfold. She's been building it in layers, so maybe the blindfold is coming soon!

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Moveable Alphabet. She *wrote*, "he likes vanilla icecream". I can't get her to work with this very often but am trying to since she's a bit behind on writing. She moved into reading faster and sort of left writing behind.

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Some botany, art work! She used 2 different shaped metal insets to make this design.

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Cat and MJ finishing up some long overdue work on Suffixes. This seriously is first year work that they never took interest in and I never finished up with them. Sadly they got this second part of the presentation and we never touched it again! Well MJ did but Cat didn't. We are really slacking in the language department. 

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Here Cat was working on fractions. We started this in primary but didn't get to operations. She actually enjoyed this work. I'm not sure if it was actually the fraction work or just the fact that she got to use whiteboard markers in the classroom.

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Swiper figuring out what to destroy next. See the numbers laid out on the floor? Yeah those don't last too long when he's around. He thoroughly enjoys walking over to them and just stomping across them. Boys = Destruction.

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MJ was motivated by the geography presentations. He recreated his own chart. This charts shows what would happen if the earth stopped spinning.

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Swiper's in jail because he probably destroyed something that somebody loved. Possibly the work below, can't remember. He loves being on the wrong side of the gate. Perfect baby protection! Gate = Protection From Baby or For Baby?

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Tes moved into operations work! Last semester she went through all four operations...woohoo! She was zooming through math work. Guess she was having a super sensitive period for it. Above she is collecting  the addends from the trays and below she is putting them together to count out the sum and get the corresponding number cards.

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Also, not pictured,  I gave all the geography presentations for the Sun and Earth chapter, minus a few that I haven't finished the charts for. Below were the materials for the presentation on the Earth as a Sphere.

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We took a break during the last week of Advent as well as the Christmas Season, which lasts for about 2 weeks in the Catholic church. And that is starting ON Christmas Day :).  MJ's birthday is in December as well, so there is always lots to do. He turned 9!

 Happy Birthday MJ!!! and Merry Christmas!!! and Happy New Year!!!

I'll be trying to post at least once per week for the second half of this year, so stay tuned for our new routine and classroom schedule. I'm a bit more organized this year....just a bit.

Jenn